CSU SCHOOLS EXPANDING ONLINE OFFERINGS

Campuses are trying to enhance accessibility while maintaining quality

In January, about two dozen students enrolled in the first program, a bachelor’s in business administration out of Cal State Fullerton.

For that degree program, students enroll with at least 60 units of lower-division business courses completed and take one three-unit upper-division class every eight weeks. Most will need about three years to finish their bachelor’s degree — after paying for and completing the 60 units — at a cost of $500 per unit or $30,000, said Jenny Zhang, a Fullerton professor and director of the online degree completion program.

By comparison, CSU’s annual tuition and fees average about $6,612 per year, a CSU spokesman said. If a student were able to complete a bachelor’s degree in four years, and fees weren’t increased, that would cost about $26,500.

Offering the degree through Cal State Online expands the reach to a population beyond those students who live within driving distance of Fullerton.

Students enrolled in the program pay more than the regular tuition at CSU campuses but are guaranteed to get the classes they need. Zhang said they receive a higher level of personal service from Fullerton faculty and Pearson staff.

“I talked to them, our business adviser talked to them. We help them to register for classes,” Zhang said. “Because they are paying a higher rate, we do want them to be successful and provide them the best we can to help them.”

San Jose’s experiments

A more experimental model is being pursued at San Jose State University, which has partnered with Udacity, a Silicon Valley for-profit online education startup, to offer entry-level remedial math, algebra and statistics classes in massive open online courses for college credit. Those are considered “gatekeeper classes” and historically have high failure rates among students. Students pay a fee of $150 for the classes, although that was waived this semester after a foundation and donor came forward.

“We are trying to figure out if we can use the technology that is so pervasive in our lives to help students master these classes,” said Patricia Lopes Harris, a university spokeswoman. “The idea is if we can increase not just the pass rate but help students master the materials in these classes, they will be able to go on and get their degree in a timely manner.”

Gone is the traditional lecture. The Udacity approach calls for a series of short contextual video lessons followed by exercises to ensure the material is understood.

San Jose also is collaborating with edX, a nonprofit online platform founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, to offer an online class in basic circuits. This is the second semester the partnership has offered the class, which is a requirement for electrical engineering majors.

Typically only about 60 percent of the students pass the traditional class; the online version offered last fall had a 91 percent passing rate, with students completing more quizzes and participating in more group work.

“There is no money savings in (the efforts) but what we are hoping is that over time we will reduce the number of students who have to retake and retake and retake these classes in order to pass,” Harris said.